Station F and Anthropic: the AI boom is bringing startups back offline

Roxanne Varza, director of the Paris incubator Station F, and Aiden Blake, who leads startup sales at Anthropic, spoke on a panel called "The Power of Proximity" at the Wave by Vento conference in Turin. Their message cut against the current grain: even though artificial intelligence makes it possible to build a company from anywhere on the planet, founders are still choosing to show up in person.

"Right now we're seeing that since the AI boom started, more and more people are coming into the incubator. A lot of teams are really embracing being offline," Varza said. Station F hosts 1,000 early-stage companies on-site.

A program for AI startups

In February, Station F launched F/ai, a program specifically for AI startups. The project's partners are:

• Anthropic
• OpenAI
• Mistral AI
• Meta

Teams in the program can work in a hybrid setup, but they're required to come to Station F for key milestones — that's what builds momentum, Varza said. About two-thirds of the current cohort are non-French teams from Asia, Stockholm, the UK, and Poland.

Blake joined the program because Anthropic wants to be at the center of the startup community, he explained. He added that his last three employers — Google, Notion, and Anthropic — were all Station F partners.

People, information, and chance

Asked what makes physical proximity valuable — people, information, or luck — Varza answered: all three. Many founders are serial entrepreneurs with large networks, and being nearby opens doors. Relationships can't be engineered, only given the right conditions; a lot is best left to chance.

Blake stressed that founders at Anthropic's events want to meet peers working on similar problems and hear from those who are further along. He also pointed to access to capital as an important piece of proximity, naming Stockholm and Warsaw as cities where new startups are emerging. At the same conference, Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari said capital is no longer the main barrier for European companies.

The Dublin hub

Anthropic supports startups across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa out of its Dublin office, where 150 people work across different departments. Blake explained the strategy: Dublin offers talent and a convenient time zone that covers markets from South Africa to France and Germany.

From remote to offices

Varza pointed to an important truth: you can now build a great company from anywhere, but physical presence still carries weight. Blake cited ElevenLabs as an example: the company started fully remote and opened offices as it scaled. Just last month, it opened a branch in Brussels.

A lot of people who worked remotely want to come back to being around their team, especially those in go-to-market roles, where learning from each other works well, Blake added. Not everyone agrees: in August, Dropbox's new co-CEO said remote work is staying at the company.

Asked what will give a startup an edge over the next five years, Varza said: tech stack and how fast founders build relationships. Blake said he finds it hard to predict even five days out. In his view, successful startups clearly define the problem they're solving and stay in dialogue with what customers need.